Hi all,
 
I haven't posted to this list since I joined, but have been reading and
replied to a few privately.  But as one who had to deal with mice last
winter making a feast of her walls, I will tell anyone that has a mice
problem, you need to correct it asap.  Don't play with the health of
your animals or yours.
 
First, cage up your loose animals and get that mouse poison down.  Your
pets will not be harmed if they have to be caged up for a week or two.
How I worked it, I totally went through one room, got rid of any mice in
it by moving everything out of the room, fixed any holes using pieces of
wire mesh behind the plaster and then boarded the bottom of the door.
Then I put all my animals in their cages in that room.  Then put poison
in the rest of the house in as many areas as you can.  You will start to
see their demise in a few days.  I used those D-con pre-baited trays with
the blue pellets and you will start to see blue mouse droppings in just a
day after putting them down.  Let the poison out for a week.
 
Next step is to start room by room and move everything about so you can
check every wall for holes (fix any found with wire mesh), go through
anything that mice had access to to make sure you locate all mice nests
(loads of babies).  And when I mean go through everything in each room,
I mean everything, as mice make baby nests in boxes containing papers,
clothes, dishes, your furniture, etc... Put steel wool in any holes where
pipes go through the walls (that can be bought inexpensively at Walmart
stores).
 
I had all 6 rooms with mice holes, several baby nests with 9-10 mice in
each room and it took me about a week to eradicate the pests without
harming one pet animal in my home.  It can be done, but you got to make
a safe haven for your pets first.  At the time, I had 2 dogs, 1 mouser
housecat, 1 fish, 1 bird and 1 ferret.  I also had nestboxes with baby
rabbits in the house as that is how I do it raising rabbits outside.
None of my rabbit herd were harmed wither as the mice were out there too,
eating dropped rabbit food and making nests about the cages (rabbits will
kill mice that get into the cage).  And the mice were getting into each's
cages due to food spillage.  Keeping the food cleaned up several times
per day did not work.  Using ferret poo did not work, only the poison
worked.  In fact the mice problem is the reason my spouse got me to buy
a ferret as I though those little "weasels" couldn't be trusted as pets
before that.  He said their smell would get rid of the mice.  Now, we got
a lot more animals in the house, including another ferret.
 
Don't play with your health or the health of your animals when it comes
to mice as mice can transmit several diseases to animals and humans.
When you clean up mice droppings, try not to breath in the dust it
creates, use a mask if you need to as that is the easiest way to get
anything the mice have.  Then once you eradicated the pests, pick up all
the poison, claen the house from top to bottom and bring your animals
back to where they usually are kept.  It's not hard to do, but some of
your pets may just need more toys in their cages for a week to keep
occupied.
 
I am just starting to go through my house again and making sure there
isn't any mice holes that were misses this past spring.  I have mouse
poison on hand (kept in safe area from my pets, which now number 13
indoor ones) and ready to use it again, if it is needed.  I got three
more rooms to go through totally again of the 6.  I thought I could
handle the mice without poison as I was concerned for my animals and
the poison, but I was wrong.  I won't be again and will do what it
takes to keep the mice out.
 
Kim Ord
[log in to unmask]
Home of the "Zoo" of animals
[Posted in FML issue 4342]